During recent public health emergencies, such as COVID-19 pandemic, the spread of over, false and misinformation in social media, resulted in an exponential use of digital social listening methodologies- in summary defined as collection and analysis of voices, concerns and/or perceptions expressed by individuals and communities- as part of the humanitarian response.  This raises the question on how those social listening findings are being used and influence emergency responses, while also addressing affected people’s needs and concerns, as part of the Accountability to Affected Populations (AAP) mandate- an obligation of every organisation on the ground to place people affected by crisis at the centre of humanitarian action and promote respect for their human rights.  Trough the comparative analyses of social listening reports and a mixed survey responded by Risk Communication and Community Engagement (RCCE) practitioners, using COVID-19 context as an example, this project helps understanding the role social listening has had in humanitarian responses, while providing possible ways to better connect social listening to programming.  On way forward is urgent to harmonise the definition of social listening and clearly distinguish social media listening and its limited role in terms of communities’ participation, while acknowledging the risk of exclusion of digital channels in general. Social listening cannot continue to be limited to the RCCE field, but involve other programme sectors, besides effectively engaging governments, civil society and affected populations. Offline mechanisms seem to be better shaped to address inclusion, localisation and contextualisation (and AAP in general), and therefore the need to invest in specific community-based mechanisms and/or systems that combine online with offline tools. For accountability purposes, monitoring action taken based on Social Listening findings and evaluating how it impacted programmes, it is an urgent priority. Besides the obvious humanitarian obligation of communicating (looping) back to communities what was done with their voices.

This paper aims to examine the evolution of the depiction of listening comprehension in Swedish curricula and attached policy documents for upper-secondary schools from the 1970s onwards to the contemporary ones by analyzing the content and placing it in relation to curriculum theory. The research approach for this paper was inductive since the prior knowledge in this field was limited. Further, the data for this paper are policy documents that regulate education as well as commentary material that argue for the relevance of the content presented in the respective document. Moreover, the data analysis method used is content analysis since the aim is to do a manifest and latent analysis of the content presented in policy documents to depict listening comprehension, thereby revealing how it has developed in accordance with socially situated ideals. The research questions for this paper are (1) How has the depiction of listening skills changed in Lgy70, Lpf94, Gy11 and Gy22 for English at the upper secondary school level? And (2) How are the differences between Lgy70, Lpf94, Gy11 and Gy22 related to the ideological trends during their time? By applying curriculum theory as the theoretical lens, two main advancements were recognized when examining curricular development. Firstly, the results suggest that Swedish curricula and attached educational policies have developed in the spirit of globalization to meet the requirements caused due to the theoretical reorientation of language learning. Secondly, attention to listening comprehension has evolved due to the increased presence of English in Swedish society since the 1970s. This development is illustrated in the increased amount of text in the policy documents for EFL that focus on function rather than formal aspects in the pursuit of strengthening communicative abilities.

Pediatric and neonatal patients are especially vulnerable to suffering from distress. This literature review identifies research which applies passive music listening to distressed neonatal and pediatric acute care patients. Databases searched to find relevant studies include CINAHL plus with full text, MEDLINE, Alt HealthWatch, APA PsycArticles, and APA PsycInfo from EBSCOhost. Six studies were identified to meet search criteria. The studies that supported music listening with the neonatal and pediatric populations had a positive effect in reducing distress levels. Additional research is warranted to further validate these findings. Music listening with neonatal and pediatric patients is a simple, cost-effective intervention that nurses can implement at the bedside.

The goal of this master project was to create reverberant sound worlds on the border between acoustic and electronic sounds. I approached this goal through the exploration of musical repetition, difference and timbre. These fields were approximated both through practical and theoretical work. This thesis gives insight into my practical work of solo piano playing, with specific focus on the combination of acoustic piano with electronic effect pedals and extended techniques. Reading about and translating concepts and ideas from the fields of minimalism and ambient music has led me to approaching repetition, difference and timbre through thinking-feeling texture. This thesis focuses on the music and concepts that arise in the in-between of these four fields: repetition, difference, timbre and texture. In addition, the text includes theoretical reflections on texture, repetition and listening modes from a conceptual and philosophical angle. This master project has given me new entryways to create music and changed my way of listening. I developed a new style and technique for playing solo piano, which includes a set up for electronically processed and prepared piano. Moreover, I developed several concepts that explain my musical driving forces as well as connect my musical work with visual art and serve as useful tools to share my artistic practice. Especially important are the concepts of uneven repetition, antipiano and texture-gesture continuum. / <p>Anna Wohlfarth – prepared piano</p><p>Marika Markström – electronic processing</p><p>"spatial magnets"</p><p>Solo:</p><p>Anna Wohlfarth – piano, effects</p><p>"3 improvisations"</p><p>Duo:</p><p>Anna Wohlfarth – piano, effects</p><p>Petter Norbäck – sampler, elektronik</p><p>"tonefloat; dark atmo // iceland memories; disintegration"</p>

<p>Listening (Janusik, 2002; Miller, 2018; Wolvin & Coakley, 1996) and eating disorders (EDs; National Centre for Eating Disorders (NCFED), 2018) are often not taught within schools, especially among adolescents. To address this, a school-based brief motivational interviewing (MI) intervention on listening when talking about EDs was created, implemented, and evaluated among adolescents (<em>n</em> = 260) from two middle schools within the Midwestern part of the United States. Specifically, School 1 (<em>n</em> = 100), and School 2 (<em>n</em> = 160) and three teachers (i.e., Teacher 1, Teacher 2, Teacher 3) allowed the researcher to present and collect data. In other words, three total teachers between the two schools, and one teacher, Teacher 1 (<em>n</em> = 100), was from School 1, and the other two teachers, Teacher 2 (<em>n</em> = 120) and Teacher 3 (<em>n</em> = 40) were from School 2. Participants were randomly placed into either the 1) the EDs listening intervention (education-plus) with an MI component (<em>n</em> = 6 classes) or 2) an education-plus Q&A intervention (<em>n</em> = 7 classes). All the participants were involved in the guest lecture and the pre-test and post-test survey, but data was only saved and analyzed from participants that had guardians/parents who consented (<em>n</em> = 75). The methodology for this dissertation project was a 2 (pre/post, unmatched) X 2 (condition) subject’s design. This dissertation project had two independent variables: (1) experimental condition (e.g., education plus MI and education plus Q&A), and (2) time (e.g., pre and post). This dissertation project had five dependent variables: (1) knowledge of listening, (2) knowledge of EDs, (3) listening self-efficacy, (4) knowledge of OARS, and (5) knowledge of the righting reflex. This dissertation project also had the random factor of schools (e.g., School 1 (A) and School 2 (B), and the fixed factor of gender identity (e.g., male and female). The results revealed a promise of efficacy and increased knowledge regarding EDs and aspects of listening, specifically through MI (e.g., OARS). Other areas of knowledge improved but not significantly. In other words, there were no significant differences in knowledge gains between MI and Q&A, but MI compared to Q&A showed a more extensive influence on self-efficacy. The main limitation of this study was the limited guardian/parental consent, resulting in a small sample size.</p><br><br>

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Sound quality analysis is a tool designed to help determine customer preferences, which can be used to help the designer improve product quality. Many industries desire to know how the consuming public perceives their product, as this affects the product life and success. This research investigates which of the six sewing machines provided by Viking Sewing Machine Group (VSM group) consumers find most acoustically appealing. The sound quality analysis methods used include both jury based listening tests and quantitative sound quality metrics from empirical equations. The results from both methods are completely independent and are shown to have a very strong correlation. The procedures and results of both methods, jury listening tests and mathematical metrics, are presented. Near field sound intensity scans identified acoustic hot spots and give direction for possible design modifications to improve the acoustic signature of the two top tier machines, the Designer 1 and Creative 2144 (Husqvarna Viking and Pfaff respectively). This research determined that the entry level Pfaff Select 1530 has the most acoustically appealing sound of the six machines evaluated. In addition, it was also determined that a reduction in the higher frequency sounds produced by the machines is preferred over a reduction in the lower frequency sounds. Further investigations, including an evaluation of machine isolation and startup sounds, were also performed. The machine isolation results are highly dependant on the individual machine being evaluated and would require independent evaluation. In the machine startup sound assessment, it was discovered that again the Pfaff Select 1530 has the preferred sound. Near field acoustic intensity scans provide additional information on locations of strong acoustic radiation. The near field scans provided valuable design information. The acoustic "hot" spots were discovered to exist in the lower portions of the machines near the main stepper motor in the Designer 1, and radiating from the bottom plate of the machine in the Pfaff Creative 2144. This analysis has led to various design modifications that could be implemented to improve the sound quality of the machines, specifically the Designer 1 and the Creative 2144.

TCP can perform poorly in multi-hop wireless networks due to problems with contention and poor feedback from end-to-end control algorithms. This thesis explores the design of a hop-by-hop transport protocol (HxH). By allowing intermediate nodes to actively participate, the protocol can respond more quickly to changing network conditions and exploit the unique characteristics of wireless networks. Results indicate that hop-by-hop transport can achieve throughput rates that are double those of TCP, depending on the speed of the wireless links.

For this project I sought to find a more effective means of evaluating academic listening comprehension. This involved doing an in-depth investigation of academic listening, the constructs involved in listening comprehension, and of methods of assessing listening comprehension. It also included a study of the concept of test usefulness (Bachman and Palmer, 1996), which consists of reliability, construct validity, authenticity, interactiveness, impact, and practicality, and is used to help select the most effective methods of assessing language abilities. Based on my review of listening comprehension testing methods, I created a method of assessing academic listening comprehension, Aural Gapped Listening Summaries (AGLS), produced a short version of the AGLS for piloting through BYU's English Language Center and credit exam for matriculated students, and then analyzed the results of this piloting to determine whether future investigation was merited. This project write-up includes a description of the development of the AGLS, the methods of administration, and students' cursory perceptions of the AGLS, as well as the results of the pilot test. The AGLS involved students listening to an excerpt of a lecture followed by an aural summary of that lecture with every 8th word replaced by low-volume static. Then they were asked to type a word or phrase in a box on their computer screens that would best fill in the gap where the static was. Ranks on the AGLS were correlated with a standard listening test, which is administered every semester at Brigham Young University, and with students' individual perceptions of their listening abilities. Results showed that AGLS correlates moderately well with traditional measures of academic listening (r=0.7731) while giving testers interesting information about student interlanguage in very little time. Results further showed that AGLS has a much higher reliability coefficient (r=0.9223) in comparison to the other listening test. Therefore, although traditionally testers have had to write lengthy tests in order to get an adequate representation of students' listening abilities, it may be possible to obtain the necessary information about students' abilities with this more time-efficient measurement tool.

Metacognitive listening instruction is the method recommended to Swedish teachers by the Swedish National Board of Education (Skolverket) in a document authored by Lena Börjesson (2012) found in the commentary material to the steering documents. This method is based on a metacognitive pedagogical sequence of L2 listening instruction suggested by Vandergrift and Goh (2012). In this study, I test this method using action research. The participants of the study were first year upper secondary school students from a vocational program, the control group consisted of students from a preparatory program. In general, the treatment group exhibited low motivation to study, while the second group had higher motivation. Both groups attended an upper secondary school in the South of Sweden. During seven classes, the treatment group (n=16) received training in the method, and the control group (n=21) was given more traditional tests during six classes. In this study, I used the following methods to obtain my data: the PET listening test, the listening segment of the Swedish National Test of English and the Metacognitive Awareness Listening Questionnaire (MALQ). The results demonstrated that both groups improved their results on the listening aptitude test significantly; however, the treatment group did not with a statistical significance improve more than the control group. Secondly, the students did not perceive that they were using more strategies after the explicit strategy training they had received; both groups reported to using strategies less, as the listening texts became increasingly difficult. Thirdly, the students from the two groups did not report perceiving any difference in learning how to listen, despite one of the groups receiving explicit instruction in listening strategies. Finally, the students both in the treatment group and in the control group have reported to increasing listening anxiety after the instructional period, but the levels of anxiety increased less in the treatment group. The results of this study thus do not unequivocally suggest the effectiveness of the method for teaching listening recommended by Skolverket. In particular, it is questionable whether the method is at all suitable for students with low motivation as those who have participated in the study.